to love a monster ~ pairs of opposites

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[@WitandFolly]

For those new to my content, please understand that when I am discussing male/female opposites, I'm not talking about gender. In psychoanalytical terms, everyone has male and female parts because we are raised in a world that sees these as different. Even if you can view gender on a spectrum, what lies on the opposite sides of that spectrum? Stereotypes that we have created to better understand the world and ourselves. So that's the terminology. It doesn't enforce gender roles - it helps us to define a fictional character and the relationship they are in. Are there more queer monster-romance stories out there ? Probably. But I could honestly only recall one dealing with opposites (Our Flag Means Death).

[@seasaltmemories]

When it comes to sapphic relationships, I think an interesting example might be Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, the show is already very interested in how fairytales and gender intersect: can a girl be a prince, is the princess really a witch, who is the true monster among them all? These questions haunt almost every relationship in the show, bending and shifting depending on which role the character chooses for themselves, but I think even among these conflicting positions, it is really interested in how opposites can still be remarkably similar at the end of the day and how to truly love that which doesn't live up to your fairytale ideals

[@WitandFolly]

@seasaltmemories Thank you for this! Another Sapphic example is probably Catra and Adora from She Ra, though I admit I only know this through fandom and haven't watched much of the series myself.

[@evendia]

Thank you for including the quintessential best scene of "Love Between Fairy and Devil". 😎

[@404RaeNotFound]

LOVE this approach of mythology/folklore and the psychological to understanding tropes and dynamics. I don't think I've ever seen anyone on KZbin do something like this before. And I'll definitely have to check out some of the books cited!

[@ValerieEnriquez]

This is one of my favorite topics! My favorite monsters include the classics like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast (and the numerous versions/adaptations, right down to the OG Cupid and Psyche story) to being one of the many people who saw the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant and thought "Damn, Mothman's got some cake." I'll have to check out the books you cited since I always love reading more about psychoanalysis in storytelling.

[@WitandFolly]

💗💗💗

[@stormaggeden]

Monsters are the darkest parts of us yearning for change and comfort 🥺

[@ilikemovies22]

The fact this comes out right as I'm writing a final paper for a class on the horror genre is so funny to me. Great video as always, certainly gives me a lot to think about.

[@ohnoida7664]

Excellent stuff! As someone who used to subscribe to more literal interpretations of these kinds of stories in the past, I find these more metaphorical forms of analysis much more freeing and fun. Also, please share the soundtrack to this video! I simply must have it!

[@sitatopalli5075]

So glad to see Love between Fairy and Devil here- absolutely lived it! Just finished watching it and wished you did a deep dive on it

[@swad2315]

theis type of monsters love story i like especially when they ia a conflict between them between the monster and the beauty but neither the beauty nor the beast can escape from each other because they want to know more about each other

[@janellhatchett3983]

Another excellent video!

[@MugiwaraSuponji]

Great essay as always. My absolute favorite IP of this sort would have to be Fruits Basket. They're just so emotionally repressed in their own opposite ways...and they come together so naturally that you as the reader can barely identify when they changed. Many characters are shown to have a "monstrous" side, but they are presented just as they are, and I think the author has a lot of compassion for her own characters' complexities.

[@stormaggeden]

Your video essays always blow my mind, man. This is epic

[@lenasilva491]

coming to rewatch it as I'm in the process of watching till the end of the moon and have FEELINGS but can't go on fandom spaces yet because of spoilers

[@fluffy-lise]

That's a very interesting video. These types of stories I think reflect the need to find the love and "humanity" in the darkness, the love behind the violence. This sounds a bit corny, but for people who have been through the worst, this can be a way to cope.

[@WitandFolly]

Absolutely 💜

[@Mara-mm5ze]

I feel like most, if not all critics to this form of media literacy, is the fact that most activist movements don't need to change bigots mind's to thrive. I'm watching Contrapoints' video of "The Trials of JK Rowling", and that made me come back to write this comment. I feel like when people get upset about making out with the monster, redeeming them, is because most of minority groups get so absolutely tired of trying to "redeem" the people who are trying to take their basic rights, so the only option is defeating them, screaming, reasing their voice, violence. When actually this is supposed to be metaphorical, and the monster is the part of you that you're scared to open up to. It's spiritual and like, not real. I do not blame people that react this way, being opressed sucks, people don't listen to you. Tell you that you're being dramatic when you scream. But I would like them to see the monster as themselfs, the oppresive side is the one that's trying to defeat them, not because they themselfs are violent or dangerous, but that's the idea that the bigots have of the other, and cannot see past that. They are the one who sould learn about empathy, not us.

[@khalibarnard1261]

Aaaaaaaaaa!!!! I LOVE Warm bodies, Fruits basket, Beauty and the Beast ,Howl's moving castle and the last jedi, Amazing video, the idea of loving a monster is such a interesting and intriguing trope and this video shows way.

[@nightmare1641]

Thanks for helping me understand why I love monsters

[@Kaitain]

Great video!!

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

I have adapted Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's CARMILLA twice, once for the stage and again for stage/audio/zoom. The issue I found some audience members have the hardest time dealing with was that the characters in such stories (especially the vampyre) are both people and also myths.

[@WitandFolly]

At first, a lof of ppl have a difficult time looking at characters as symbols (as well as people as you said) and they get stuck in seeing them as fictional representations of real people. That doesn't really help us to analyze them. You have to break down the mythical and symbolic stuff if you truly want to understand the story and the characters

[@Meowlo]

Wonderful video! My favorite monsters? Hmm probably Kylo/Ben and Howl. Very basic but what can I say lol.

[@ledafrost]

Excellent video!

[@gloriouspain174]

Girls, do you have recs for this trope that aren't YA or too sanitized, please, i'm begging :(

[@NinjaxPrime]

I feel like "cleanse" vs "redeem" isn't necessarily an either/or proposition. Both approaches are good depending on context. If the monster is grief, adolescent rebellion, or some other uncomfortable but necessary thing then redemption is the right approach. If the monster is something like greed or white supremacy, then the correct answer is "SMITE".

[@WitandFolly]

If the monster is greed, then the person who wrote that monster might be exploring what makes them or their community hurt others through that greed. A way to redeem that monster would be teaching it to give. It sounds corny as hell, but it's far more sustainable to teach people how to love than it is to destroy them. Again, we're not talking about real life monsters here. We're talking about stories and the parts of ourselves that are playing out our fears and anxieties about the world. You can redeem or destroy the monsters in your story, but if you choose to destroy, then you're just kicking the can down the road. The darkness will crop up again with a different face but the same name.

[@kdog3334]

This is a great video, wonderful show choices. However, this feels severely lacking in its analysis of the effect of sex on this trope. It is never men loving female monsters- it is always the woman’s role to “tame” or soften him. It is woman’s role to endure pain and suffering in order to improve the masculine. This has obvious implications in real life relationship dynamics. This is a good intro video to what could be an interesting much longer video essay on this dynamic and the ways it can represent a positive (loving those outcasted by society and redeeming them through that love) and a negative (women being told it is a virtue to be forced to bear the brunt of toxic relationships and sacrifice their lives to “fix” men’s problems). Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@kdog3334]

Plus of course the natural comparison to the love of opposites and the tradition of males and females being “opposite” sexes- reinforcing gender roles

[@WitandFolly]

I have another video on how boys cut off the emotional parts of themselves at young ages and how that is usually resolved in story when they are simply loved for who they are. I think the interpretation that women "fix" men in these stories is inaccurate. Those characters rather present themselves as they are. They are vulnerable when all the Beast knew before was violence. And BTW, I stated up front that I was not here to discuss real life morality. Too many other analyses are out there. My concern is psychoanalytical, within the context of the story.

[@WitandFolly]

Male and female in the psychoanalytical sense, not gender. There are few examples of opposites in monster-romance that include a queer relationship. I was able to include one here - Our Flag Means Death.

[@elssiie]

If you're looking for a reference of a man loving a monstrous woman, I would reccomend the kdrama "It's okay to not be okay". It has tons of fairy tale archetypes on top of other beautifully incorporated symbols. There are lots of stories where the monster/beast is a woman in need of love, although I've noticed most of the examples I've come across are from asian media - manga, cdrama, kdrama, etc. I know Ty already answered but I would also add that by looking at these relationships through the metaphrorical/phsychoanalytical lenses what we learn is that it's not at all about women "sacrificing their lives to “fix” men’s problems", it's about them seeing the Other in what we initially call a 'monster', 'a bad person'. By healing them through love and compassion what these characters (and also us as the audience) essentially achieve is healing ourselves because these monstrous figures are a part of our own psyche. This is why applying real life logic to these sort of fictional relationships just doesn't work. It's all one big metaphor for our psychological development.

[@mea5989]

Angela Carter wrote a more modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast called "The Tiger's Bride" that I think you would find fascinating! The story itself had me wary at first, looking at a lot of interactions between the beast and the girl as nonconsensual acts of violence, especially knowing that things like "true loves kiss" in fairy tales were often allusions for sex, but instead Carter plays into a lot of these psychological analyses of beasts with a feminist lens and plays a twist on the original story that is, for lack of better words, really really sick.

[@mea5989]

I know this is vague but I'm not trying to spoil anything!!

[@lorinaumann2404]

Great video!!

[@edwardoliveira1748]

That was a beautiful essay.

[@nightmare1641]

The is so beautiful I have no words 🥹🥹🥹🥹

[@lauri_haro]

Nashuriiiiiii 🐈‍⬛🐍

[@Calebgoblin]

This is the first time that I've been able to reflect on the werewolf x human ERP that I spent several years involved in without thinking of it as purely bad...and rather an exploration of something that might have actually been worth exploring

[@WitandFolly]

Ahhh that's so cool!!! Werewolves sometimes represent our yearning to be wild creatures. I'm so glad you can see it in a new light!

[@Calebgoblin]

@@WitandFolly I'm a feral mfer so it checks out haha. Anyway thanks for the vid!